“The most important challenge is dealing with the environment, and particularly air quality. Without significantly improving air quality we cannot move forward with our port terminal improvement projects.

The community will not support our projects unless we act to substantially improve air quality, and reduce the associated health risks,” says Art Wong, Port of Long Beach assistant director of communications, noting that, in early November, voters approved Proposition 1B, which sets aside $3bn for port-related transportation, environmental and security projects.

Acting on recommendations from the public and regulatory agencies, the two West Coast ports also recently announced that they had revised their landmark Clean Air Action Plan, adding a commitment to explore the use of pollution-based impact fees, increase shore-side electricity and improve bay-wide emission standards to significantly reduce the health risks posed by air pollution from port-related ships, trains, trucks, and terminal equipment. “We simply  cannot grow our ports to accommodate future cargo trade volumes without a comprehensive plan like this in place to minimise port-related pollution in our  region,”says Geraldine Knatz, executive director for the Port of Los Angeles.

Described as the most comprehensive clean air strategy ever produced for a US port complex,the draft Final 2006 San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan is now available for public review before being presented to the Boards of both ports for approval. The five-year Plan, which, it is claimed, will reduce air pollution by at least 45%, was created with the co-operation and participation of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, California Air Resources Board and US Environmental Protection Agency. After the draft Plan was issued in June 2006, dozens of  individuals and groups submitted more than 500 pages of written comments and testified at four public meetings.

Responding to the suggestions, the ports have now fully developed commitments and milestones for achieving air emission reductions, and agreed to  explore the use of pollution-based impact fees, such as gate fees assessed on ‘dirty’trucks, so that polluters pay  their part to improve air quality.The two ports have also  agreed to develop tariff-based incentives and requirements – such as ship speed reduction incentives and port-mandated fuel requirements – in order to curb harmful air emissions, and will work with the air quality regulatory agencies in the region to establish Bay-wide air quality standards, as well as mechanisms  for tracking improvements in air quality. The Port of Long Beach has agreed that, within five years, it will develop shore-side electricity for ships at 10-16 Long Beach berths, a significant increase in the number specified in the draft Clean Air Action Plan. (The draft Plan already included the Port of Los Angeles’ commitment to facilitating shore-side electricity for ships at 15 berths within  five years.)

Financially, Long Beach and Los Angeles are both in a good position.“Our finances are very strong because of our continuing gains in cargo, but to maintain or increase our market share, we need to continue to improve our facilities.We have several projects pending to improve our terminals, including some awaiting approval of air quality improvement programmes,” Mr Wong explains.

Long Beach’s most important revenue stream comes from container cargo. As the second busiest container cargo port in the US, Long Beach is projecting a  doubling or tripling of its container cargo volume in the next two decades, so its financial position should remain strong, but plans to expand to meet demand  depend on environmental programmes.

“We recently signed a long-term lease agreement  with International Transportation Service, a subsidiary of K Line of Japan,” Mr Wong tells Port Strategy.“Under the new lease, we will be building a new deep-water berth, expanding the on-dock rail yard and building a second truck gate, as well undertaking many major environmental improvements,such as the construction of shore-side electrical facilities for ships to plug into electricity while at berth.